Stop Motion- Animation Maker Pro: Creating Your Own Cinema

By Peter Magerson Sat, 10/12/2013

EDUMOTION's Stop Motion- Animation Pro is a remarkably easy-to-use application that puts the power of stop-motion filming in its users’ hands. With Stop Motion Animation Pro, no special equipment is necessary to create your very own stop-motion film. Stop- motion film is created by playing many still frames in quick succession, in which a scene has been subtly adjusted for each frame. This creates the illusion of smooth motion when using a series of inanimate scenes.

The really clever part of Stop Motion- Animation Maker Pro’s interface is the transparent overlay it creates, which shows the previous still the user captured. Using this transparent overlay to line up the parts of the scene which must remain the same for the next still, users can master this method of film production without a tripod or sophisticated measuring equipment. Stop Motion- Animation Maker Pro even does the work of compiling the stills into a film. Users can also easily adjust the frames per second at which their film plays, iif the movement is too fast or too slow. The interface also offers quick and easy methods for sharing and saving the films.

One mild issue with the app is the fact that some of the more desirable features, like uploading the films from within the app, are paid services. This isn’t a major deal because the app itself is free. However, it would perhaps be more reasonable to list Stop Motion- Animation Maker Pro as Stop Motion Animation Maker TRIAL and then have users pay to upgrade to pro. The app is certainly fun and functional enough to merit paying for, but users who download may feel a bit duped when they are asked to pay for basic functions after the fact, when the app is listed as “Pro,” which usually denotes complete access to features. But the pricing for the features isn’t unreasonable. The app also offers the ability to choose the film’s resolution, which is great if you want to make a film that’s easy to email or even mms, versus a higher-resolution film to play on a larger screen. There’s also a neat time-lapse filming feature, which is a nice extra.

The self-made films which result from using Stop Motion- Animation Maker Pro do, of course, depend greatly on their makers for their outcome. But the app’s easy-to-use interface, simple design, and intuitive process mean that it takes only a bit of patience and an interesting subject to create a finished product users will like. One of the fun things about stop-motion film is the limitless possibility, if users are willing to work their creative muscles. Fan films using action figures, whimsical films starring modeling clay characters, and even more traditional animation styles using drawings, are all possible to make with Stop Motion- Animation Maker Pro. And with the HD option the app offers, these films can be of surprisingly high quality, too. Users can create films with or without sound, and even add a soundtrack later.